CSPI/ The MilliGrammy Awards

Dietary sodium is a tricky thing to talk about. Getting the right amount of sodium is essential to life, but the average American diet contains dangerous amounts.

A high-sodium diet is a major contributor to high blood pressure, heart disease, and in turn, death. The culprits are everywhere –processed foods, soups, cereal, cheese – did you know BREAD is the single biggest contributor of sodium in the American diet?

With the Milligrammy Awards, the Center for Science in the Public Interest wanted to shine a light on the absurd amounts of sodium in fast and fast-casual menu items. In many cases, the dishes that might seem most innocuous are packed with more than twice the daily recommended sodium intake. Just ONE meal could have more sodium than you should eat in 2 days.

The FDA has proposed safe sodium limits, the food industry and restaurant associations are currently fighting those restrictions. So for now, it’s up to consumers to educate themselves.

Verizon Wireless / Middleditch

Target / Time for a Target Run

When people go to Target, it’s often because they’ve accumulated a long list of things they need (and some things they don’t need). This campaign is designed to remind guests that if you want everyday low prices on everyday essentials, make it a Target Run. And Done.

Thanks to my dear friends at 72 and Sunny LA (and my new friends at Target) for inviting me to help bring this work to life.

President Obama and My Brother’s Keeper/ “Proud to Present”

As President Barack Obama exits office, he’ll turn much of his focus to his My Brother’s Keeper initiative – a program designed to close the achievement and opportunity gaps among young men and boys of color through mentorship.

In the wake of the 2016 Academy Awards and the #OscarSoWhite controversy, the President saw an opportunity to demonstrate the need to believe in the future successes of young black men not only in the film industry, but in all sorts of endeavors.

We created this film together with friends at Matter Unilimited, Getty Images, and DECON to run on the MTV Movie Awards.

Please, if you’re reading this and want to get involved or just learn more, visit IAMMBK.ORG

2020 On-Site Optometry / Eye-Test-Imonials

They came to us looking for some testimonial films from their clients and customers to be featured on their website. But we had another idea: Why not talk to the real beneficiaries of their services? Let’s hear it from the satisf-eyed eyes!

Together with director Dillon Buss of production company Minder and a handful of his art-school friends, we put together these Eye-Test-Imonials on a shoestring (and captured the real client testimonials, too). Special thanks to our friends at 2020 On-Site Optometry for having the courage to have some fun in a space that often doesn’t.

Starbucks / Have Yourself A Very Merry Christmas Blend

In 2015, as the American media stirred controversy over the lack of Christmas imagery on Starbucks red cups, the coffee company was preparing to introduce its perennially-anticipated Christmas Blend for the 31st year in a row. Indeed, before Starbucks created Christmas Blend in 1984, Christmas coffee wasn’t even a thing.

To celebrate Christmas Blend Vintage 2015 we traveled to the original Starbucks store at 1912 Pike Place in Seattle, invited some customers to join us for an exclusive private cupping, and spoke to Howard Schultz and his master blenders and roasters about what makes this coffee special.

I was extremely stoked to partner with my new friends at 72 and Sunny on this project.

CSPI / The Happiness Stand

Imagine you’re standing in Starbucks at that little counter where you add cream and sweetener (what do they call that counter?) and the person in from of you has a Grande. Not a Venti, just a little 12-ouncer. The person proceeds to tear open sugar packets – first 1, then 4, then 10 packets – and dumps them each into the coffee.

Extreme? Well, that’s how much sugar in a 12-ounce can of soda. It increases your risk of obesity and type-2 diabetes and more. And yet soda companies spend BILLIONS of dollars a year marketing their products as “happiness.” We’re not buying that load of sugar.

CSPI / #sharehonesty

My friend and I were messing around with shareacoke.com one day, trying to see what words Coke would allow on their labels and which ones they wouldn’t. There were some surprises. You can share a coke with “Chubby” and “Lardo” which seems just plain mean. You can share a Coke with “Nobody.” You can even share a Coke with “Caution.”

You could not, however, share a Coke with “Obesity,” “Diabetes,” or “Tooth Decay.” No big surprise. So we thought we’d make a video about that – about how shareacoke.com won’t allow labels to bear the names of some of the problems associated with the overconsumption of sugary beverages. But the site also allows users to submit names or words that might be missing from their database. So to keep things on the up-and-up, we submitted the word “Obesity” just to see what would happen.

What happened next meant we had to start over and rewrite the video a few times, but each time it kept making the story more fun.

Interesting epilogue: about a week after we released this video, the word “Honesty” was also removed from the list of approved words on shareacoke.com.

#changethetune / Center for Science in the Public Interest

Coca-Cola created their iconic “Hilltop,” ad in 1971, and in 2015, it was given a cultural shot in the arm when it was featured on the series finale of Mad Men. But in the 44 years since the original ad aired, sugary beverages have home from being a sometimes treat to being the #1 SOURCE OF CALORIES in the American diet. Think about that.

This film for the Center for Science in the Public Interest was created to spread that truth and #changethetune